Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T02:26:42.293Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Land Tenure, Migration, and Development: A Comparative Case Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 September 2022

Alisa Garni
Alisa Garni*
Affiliation:
Kansas State University
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Comparative analysis of two Salvadoran towns with similar patterns of international migration but different historical land-tenure patterns reveals the emergence of radically different development strategies. Whereas in one case, mostly landed households with a history of farming commercially have been selling land and abandoning agriculture, in the other case, previously landless households whose members worked as sharecroppers before the onset of migration have been acquiring land and farming as much as possible. The opposite processes at work in these two cases raise important theoretical questions for both migration and development studies. Using ethnographic, census, and historical data, I examine how and why land ownership, under particular historical circumstances, conditions the impact of migration on development.

Resumen

Resumen

El análisis comparativo de dos pueblos salvadoreños con patrones parecidos de migración internacional, pero diferentes patrones históricos de tenencia de tierras, revela estrategias de desarrollo radicalmente diferentes. Mientras que en uno de los casos la mayoría de las familias han estado vendiendo tierras propias y abandonando la agricultura, en la otra comunidad, a la mayoría de las familias les faltaban tierras propias antes del inicio de la migración y han ido adquiriéndolas para cultivarlas. Los procesos opuestos en estos dos casos plantean importantes cuestiones teóricas, tanto para el estudio de la migración internacional como para el del desarrollo. A través de etnografías, censos y datos históricos, se examina cómo y por qué la propiedad de la tierra, en determinadas circunstancias históricas, condiciona el impacto de la migración sobre el desarrollo.

Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Research Review , Volume 48 , Issue 1 , 2013 , pp. 133 - 154
Copyright
Copyright © 2013 by the Latin American Studies Association

Footnotes

The author would like to thank L. Frank Weyher, Adrian Favell, César Ayala, Edward Telles, Rubén Hernández León, Dana Britton, László Kulscár, Erynn Casanova, participants in the UCLA International Migration Workshop, and the three anonymous LARR reviewers for helpful comments on previous drafts of this article. The Latin American Studies Program at UCLA and the Mellon Foundation provided financial support for the research.

References

Acevedo, Carlos, Barry, Deborah, and Rosa, Hermán 1995 “El Salvador's Agricultural Sector: Macroeconomic Policy, Agrarian Change and the Environment.” World Development 23 (12): 2153–2172.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Adelman, Irma, Taylor, J. Edward, and Vogel, Stephen 1988 “Life in a Mexican Village: A SAM perspective.” Journal of Development Studies 25 (1): 5–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alejandre Arroyo, Jesús, Arias, Adrián de León, and Varela, Basilia Valenzuela 1990 “Patterns of Migration and Regional Development in the State of Jalisco, Mexico.” Working Paper No. 42, Commission for the Study of International Migration and Cooperative Economic Development, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Amsden, Alice H. 1979 “Taiwan's Economic History: A Case of Etatisme and a Challenge to Dependency Theory.” Modern China 5 (3): 341–379.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Amsden, Alice H. 1990 “Third World Industrialization: ‘Global Fordism’ or a New Model?” New Left Review 182:3–31.Google Scholar
Amsden, Alice H. 1994 “Why Isn't the Whole World Experimenting with the East Asian Model to Develop? Review of The East Asian Miracle.” World Development 22 (4): 627–633.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Amsden, Alice H. 2001 The Rise of “The Rest”: Challenges from the West to Late Industrializing Economies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andrade-Eekhoff, Catherine 2003 Mitos y realidades: El impacto económico de la migración en hogares rurales. San Salvador: Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales and Impresos Quijano.Google Scholar
Barraclough, Solon L., and Scott, Michael F. 1988 “The Rich Have Already Eaten: Roots of Catastrophe in Central America.” Working Paper No. 105, Kellogg Institute for International Studies, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN. http://kellogg.nd.edu/publications/workingpapers/WPS/105.pdf.Google Scholar
Binford, Leigh 2003 “Migrant Remittances and (Under)Development in Mexico.” Critique of Anthropology 23 (3): 305–336.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Block, Fred 1990 Postindustrial Possibilities: A Critique of Economic Discourse. Berkeley: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bulmer-Thomas, Victor 1987 The Political Economy of Central America since 1920. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chibber, Vivek 1999 “Building a Developmental State: The Korean Case Reconsidered.” Politics and Society 27 (3): 309–346.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conning, Jonathan, Olinto, Pedro, and Trigueros, Alvaro 2001 “Managing Economic Insecurity in Rural El Salvador: The Role of Asset Ownership and Labor Market Adjustments.” Working Paper 2001–09, Department of Economics, Williams College, Williamstown, MA. http://www.williams.edu/Economics/wp/conningsalvador.pdf.Google Scholar
de Janvry, Alain 1981 The Agrarian Question and Reformism in Latin America. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Press.Google Scholar
Dirección General de Estadística y Censos/Census Bureau of El Salvador 2012 Población y estadísticas demográficas, http://www.digestyc.gob.sv/.Google Scholar
Dunkerley, James 1988 Power in the Isthmus: A Political History of Modern Central America. London: Verso.Google Scholar
Durand, Jorge, and Massey, Douglas S. 1992 “Mexican Migration to the United States: A Critical Review.” Latin American Research Review 27 (2): 3–42.Google Scholar
Durand, Jorge, Parrado, Emilio A., and Massey, Douglas S. 1996 “Migradollars and Development: A Reconsideration of the Mexican Case.” International Migration Review 30 (2): 423–444.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Evans, Peter B. 1995 Embedded Autonomy: States and Industrial Transformation. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Findley, Sally E. 1987 “An Interactive Contextual Model of Migration in llocos Norte, the Philippines.” Demography 24 (2): 163–190.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Friedmann, Harriet 1993 “The Political Economy of Food: A Global Crisis.” New Left Review 197:29–57.Google Scholar
Gammage, Sarah 2006 “Exporting People and Recruiting Remittances: A Development Strategy for El Salvador?” Latin American Perspectives 33 (6): 75–100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garip, Filiz 2010 “The Impact of Migration and Remittances on Wealth Accumulation and Distribution in Rural Thailand.” Working Paper No. 2010–0010, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. http://www.wcfia.harvard.edu/node/5996.Google Scholar
Garni, Alisa n.d. “Viajeros in the Salvadoran Migration Industry: A Local Comparative Perspective.” Unpublished manuscript.Google Scholar
Garni, Alisa, and Weyher, L. Frank Forthcoming “Dollars, ‘Free Trade,‘ and Migration: The Combined Forces of Alienation in Postwar El Salvador.” Latin American Perspectives.Google Scholar
Goldring, Luin 1990 “Development and Migration: A Comparative Analysis.” Working Paper No. 37, Commission for the Study of International Migration and Cooperative Economic Development, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Haas, Hein de 2010 “Migration and Development: A Theoretical Perspective.” International Migration Review 44 (1): 227–264.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hausmann, Ricardo, and Rodrik, Dani 2005 “Self-Discovery in a Development Strategy for El Salvador.” Economía (Fall): 43–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hecht, Susanna B., Kandel, Susan, Gomes, Ileana, Cuellar, Nelson, and Rosa, Hermán 2006 “Globalization, Forest Resurgence, and Environmental Politics in El Salvador.” World Development 34 (2): 308–323.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jokisch, Brad D. 2002 “Migration and Agricultural Change: The Case of Smallholder Agriculture in Highland Ecuador.” Human Ecology 30 (4): 523–550.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kay, Cristóbal 1995 “Rural Latin America: Exclusionary and Uneven Agricultural Development.” In Capital, Power, and Inequality in Latin America, edited by Halebsky, Sandor and Harris, Richard L., 21–51. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Kay, Cristóbal 2002 “Why East Asia Overtook Latin America: Agrarian Reform, Industrialisation and Development.” Third World Quarterly 23 (6): 1073–1102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kay, Cristóbal 2006 “Rural Poverty and Development Strategies in Latin America.” Journal of Agrarian Change 6 (4): 455–508.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kearney, Michael 1986 “From the Invisible Hand to Visible Feet: Anthropological Studies of Migration and Development.” Annual Review of Anthropology 15:331–361.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lardé y Larín, Jorge 2000 El Salvador: Historia de sus pueblos, villas y ciudades, 2nd ed. San Salvador: Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y el Arte.Google Scholar
Levitt, Peggy, and Nyberg-S⊘rensen, Ninna 2004 “The Transnational Turn in Migration Studies.” Global Commission on International Migration, Global Migration Perspectives No. 6, Geneva.Google Scholar
Lindstrom, David P. 1996 “Economic Opportunity in Mexico and Return Migration from the United States.” Demography 33 (3): 357–374.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Massey, Douglas S. 1988 “Economic Development and International Migration in Comparative Perspective.” Population and Development Review 14 (3): 383–413.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Massey, Douglas S., Alarcón, Rafael, González, Humberto, and Durand, Jorge 1987 Return to Aztlán: The Social Process of International Migration from Western Mexico. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Massey, Douglas S., and Parrado, Emilio A. 1994 “Migradollars: The Remittances and Savings of Mexican Migrants to the United States.” Population Research and Policy Review 13:3–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Massey, Douglas S., and Parrado, Emilio A. 1998 “International Migration and Business Formation in Mexico.” Social Science Quarterly 79 (1): 2–20.Google Scholar
McReynolds, Samuel A. 2002 “Land Reform in El Salvador and the Chapultepec Peace Accord.” Journal of Peasant Studies 30 (1): 135–169.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paige, Jeffery M. 1997 Coffee and Power: Revolution and the Rise of Democracy in Central America. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Pelupessy, Wim 2000 “Institutional Constraints and Internal Dynamics of Land Reform in El Salvador and Taiwan.” In Agrarian Policies in Central America, edited by Pelupessy, Wim and Ruben, Ruerd, 1–16. New York: St. Martin's Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Programa Salvadoreño de Investigación sobre Desarrollo y Medio Ambiente 2005 “Dinámica migratoria, medios de vida rurales y manejo de recursos naturales en El Salvador” [“The Migratory Dynamic, Modes of Rural Life and Natural Resource Use in El Salvador”]. http://www.prisma.org.sv/index.php?id=44.Google Scholar
Reichert, Joshua S. 1981 “The Migrant Syndrome: Seasonal U.S. Wage Labor and Rural Development in Central Mexico.” Human Organization 40 (1): 46–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ripton, John 2006 “Export Agriculture and Agrarian Crisis: Salvadoran Peasants and the Global Market.” Latin American Perspectives 33 (6): 101–135.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roberts, Kenneth D. 1982 “Agrarian Structure and Labor Mobility in Rural Mexico.” Population and Development Review 8 (2): 299–322.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sana, Mariano, and Massey, Douglas S. 2005 “Household Composition, Family Migration, and Community Context: Migrant Remittances in Four Countries.” Social Science Quarterly 86 (2): 509–528.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stockdale, Aileen 2004 “Rural Out-Migration: Community Consequences and Individual Migrant Experiences.” Sociologia Ruralis 44 (2): 167–194.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, J. Edward 1992 “Remittances and Inequality Reconsidered: Direct, Indirect, and Intertemporal Effects.” Journal of Policy Modeling 14 (2): 187–208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, J. Edward 2006 “International Migration and Economic Development.” Paper prepared for the International Symposium on International Migration and Development, Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, UN Secretariat, Turin, Italy, June 28–30.Google Scholar
Taylor, J. Edward, Arango, Joaquín, Hugo, Graeme, Kouaouci, Ali, Massey, Douglas S., and Pellegrino, Adela 1996 “International Migration and Community Development.” Population Index 62 (3): 397–418.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, Matthew J., Moran-Taylor, Michelle J., and Ruiz, Debra R. 2006 “Land, Ethnic, and Gender Change: Transnational Migration and Its Effects on Guatemalan Lives and Landscapes.” Geoforum 37 (1): 41–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thiesenhusen, William C. 1995 “Land Reform Lives!” European Journal of Development Research 7 (1): 192–209.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomas, Brinley 1966 “From the Other Side: A European View.” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 367:63–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
UNDP (UN Development Program) 2006 Indicadores municipales sobre desarrollo humano y objetivos de desarrollo del milenio, El Salvador 2005. San Salvador: UN Development Program.Google Scholar
UNDP (UN Development Program) 2005 “Informe sobre desarrollo humano, El Salvador 2005: Una mirada al nuevo nosotros/El impacto de las migraciones” [“Report on Human Development in El Salvador: A Look at the New Us/The Impact of Migration”]. San Salvador: UN Development Program.Google Scholar
USCIS (US Citizenship and Immigration Services) 2009 “Immigrant Enforcement Actions: 2008.” http://www.dhs.gov/ximgtn/statistics/publications/yearbook.shtm.Google Scholar
Van Wey, Leah K. 2005 “Land Ownership as a Determinant of International and Internal Migration in Mexico and Internal Migration in Thailand.” International Migration Review 39 (1): 141–172.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wade, Robert 1993 “The Visible Hand: The State and East Asia's Economic Growth.” Current History 92:431–440.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weist, Raymond 1984 “External Dependency and the Perpetuation of Temporary Migration to the United States.” In Patterns of Undocumented Migration, edited by Jones, Richard C., 110–135. Totowa, NJ: Rowman and Allanheld.Google Scholar
Woodruff, Christopher, and Zenteno, Rene 2006 “Migration Networks and Microenterprises in Mexico.” Journal of Development Economics 82 (2): 509–528.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
World Bank 2007 World Development Report 2008: Agriculture for Development. http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTDEC/EXTRESEARCH/EXTWDRS/0,contentMDK:23062293~pagePK:478093~piPK:477627~theSitePK:477624,00.html.Google Scholar